This is one of the most sought after weapons in the game, due chiefly to the very powerful legendary affix. It procs 100% chance via elemental attacks of cold, poison, or lightning, triggering only via the use of skills that are of the appropriate elemental type. It will not proc on other elemental effects, such as those cast as procs by other items. The procs may ignite via casting or hitting, and thus a character stand still and swing at the air, while still casting the procs constantly. Only one effect can be active at a time, and they seem limited to one per second.[1]

Charged Bolt - Casts three small lightning charges that are similar in appearance to unruned Shock Pulse. All three bolts may hit the same target.

Frozen Skull - Small, piercing skull-shaped projectile.

Poison Nova - A small area of effect (10y or so), but hits everything in the area, and since it can proc on hit as well as cast, this can still be useful for ranged attackers.

All three types of proc will benefit in damage from the correct type of +%element damage affixes on other equipment.

Shard of Hate: Legendary sword

Minimum Item Level: 70

Item stats at level 70:

527.8–595.7 DPS

168 - (586-683) Damage

1.40 Attacks per Second

Primary Attributes

One of 7 Magic Properties (varies)

+(981-1199)-(1175-1490) Damage

+(981-1199)-(1175-1490) Arcane Damage

+(981-1199)-(1175-1490) Poison Damage

+(981-1199)-(1175-1490) Holy Damage

+(981-1199)-(1175-1490) Lightning Damage

+(981-1199)-(1175-1490) Fire Damage

+(981-1199)-(1175-1490) Cold Damage

One of 3 Magic Properties (varies)

+(626-750) Strength

+(626-750) Dexterity

+(626-750) Intelligence

+2 random primary affixes

Secondary Affixes:

Elemental skills have a chance to trigger a powerful attack that deals (200-250)% weapon damage:

Cold skills trigger Freezing Skull.

Poison skills trigger Poison Nova.

Lightning skills trigger Charged Bolt.

+1 random secondary affix

“Would that all the misbegotten spawn of my wayward daughter had but one heart I might plunge this through, so that they all might enjoy the gift of my pitiless ire.” -Mephisto to Hephasto, Chief Weaponsmith of the Burning Hells, upon the delivery of this blade

During 2013 the Shard of Hate was created jointly by the community during the Reaper of Souls Design a Legendary fan contest. Blizzard asked for fans to vote to help create the item, with popular vote selecting the item type, visual theme, and special power. The project began in October 2013.[2]

The “Design a Legendary” Project

Inspired by the many passionate discussions we’ve seen about itemization (particularly Legendary itemization) in Diablo III, we wanted to take some time to expand on our evolving design philosophies and practices, as well as reiterate our goals for Legendaries in Reaper of Souls.

As we started to put our pens to the proverbial paper, though, we had an epiphany: “Hey, instead of just telling players about item design, why not actually show them?”

And so the Design a Legendary project was born.

So, How’s it Work?

Over the next few months, we’ll take you through the all the different design stages behind bringing a single Legendary item to life, from concept to creation to iteration, all the way through animation and implementation. We’ll chat with each developer involved and share progress updates along the way, giving you a unique behind-the-scenes look at what goes into making a Legendary item that looks epic, feels epic, and fits within the larger network of hero skills, monster tuning, and overall game balance.

Pretty sweet, huh?

But wait — that’s only one part of this project! (Oh snap.)

Tell us more, Lylirra!

We’ll also be involving you, our awesome community, in various parts of the design process. Leading up to release of Reaper of Souls, you’ll have the opportunity to not only weigh in, but actually help guide development on a Legendary item that will be implemented and playable. We’ll be holding global community votes, hosting podcasts, soliciting ideas, and even running a contest or two to ensure that this is truly a worldwide, player-driven initiative.

The result? We hope this activity will help give players a better understanding of everything that goes into item design, as well as wind up being something that’s both fun and uniquely interactive. Also, once everything is said and done, there will be a Legendary item in the game that you had a hand in making. How cool is that?!

The next phase was the visual theme, and Blizzard offered several options for fans to choose between:[3]

Caldeum

"This blade would be styled to connect thematically to the desert city of Caldeum. An item with this theme could draw from the desert locale, a distinct architectural kit, the opulence of the Emperor’s palace, or even the Lord of Lies. Caldeum provides ample recognizable features for creative inspiration."

Westmarch
"This blade would be styled to connect thematically to the city of Westmarch. The capital of King Rakkis's empire demonstrates dark medieval visual cues that are very much in line with the motifs of the first Diablo game. A weapon in this theme will be benefit from the months of development that the Diablo art team invested when creating the characters and environs Westmarch. "

Serpent
"This blade would have a visual connection to snakes and reptiles. Some of our most successful Legendary items sprang out of such humble beginnings. We start with a simple motif and asked ourselves, ‘What would I want out of a weapon in this style? What is the game fantasy of the player who wants this kind of item?' A classic fantasy theme like 'Serpent’ provides our artists with many avenues of interpretation."

Ancient Culture
"This blade would be styled to represent an ancient culture no longer found on Sanctuary, or one that we've yet to fully flesh out in a game (Skovos, for example). Ancient culture motifs are exciting springboards for our artists, giving them the opportunity to expand the visual definition of the Diablo universe while keying off of visual hooks that they haven't yet dug into. Some of our most interesting item designs come out of explorations into the technology and designs of Sanctuary's lost peoples."

Mephisto
"This blade would be styled to connect thematically to the wispy, skeletal Lord of Hatred. In addition to being a favorite character of the art team, Mephisto has a unique appearance among the Great Evils, and a blade associated with him would need to find a way to echo his character."

Duriel
"This blade would be styled to connect thematically to the massive Lord of Pain. Bulky, brutal, and grotesque, interpreting this theme as a sword may prove something of a challenge. However, sometimes the most inventive legendary item designs come out of an unexpected pairing."

Diablo

"This blade would be styled to connect thematically to the Lord of Terror himself. Capturing a design familiar to the character (a character that changes his appearance in every game, no less!) that still adds something fresh and makes a compelling player reward- this design might be the most challenging of the bunch."

Mephisto themed sword concept artwork.

The Mephisto theme won] with 32.5% of the vote. Diablo came in 2nd, Ancient Culture was 3rd, and the others were well behind.

The next phase asked fans to choose from a variety of legendary powers for the weapon, all of them somewhat reminiscent of Mephisto's vibe in Diablo 2.

Legendary Power #1: You radiate an aura of Hatred. All monsters near you deal and receive additional damage.

Legendary Power #2: Attacks have a chance on hit to cause your current target to be hated by all nearby enemies, taunting them to attack that target for the duration of the effect.

Legendary Power #3: When you are near death, your hatred for your enemies grows, significantly reducing your resource costs and cooldowns.

Legendary Power #4: Elemental attacks have a chance to trigger one of powerful abilities inspired by the Lord of Hatred himself: Charged Bolt, Poison Nova, and Freezing Skull. Lightning damage has a chance to trigger a Charged Bolt. Poison damage has a chance to trigger Poison Nova. Cold damage has a chance to trigger Freezing Skull.

Legendary Power #5: Summons an Evil Force to fight alongside the player for a period of time. This force would take the form of a non-attackable melee pet, and it would be possible to potentially have more than one Evil Force active at once.

First sample view of the Shard of Hate.

Fans voted for option #4 in a narrow win with 29% of the vote, opting to add cool attack effects to the weapon.

The last phase was the name selection, and fans had several options to vote for:[4]

Spine of the Father

Rancor

Shard of Hate

Malevolence

Sankekur’s Sorrow

There were over 20,000 vote cast worldwide, with the final choice of "Shard of Hate" earning 36% of the vote, and Blizzard thus wrapped up the contest, while providing a first look at the item seen in-game.